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I stopped reading Warren Kinsella’s blog a few weeks ago when he started to pan Stephane Dion’s tax shifting carbon tax proposal. I found it unbelievable that Kinsella would so blindly dismiss Dion’s proposal. I think that you have to be on board the fight against climate change if you want to call yourself an intelligent person, and Kinsella’s position on the carbon tax is similar to people who can barely come to admit that climate change is a real issue that must be confronted.

I was very happy to read this today on Jason Cherniak’s blog. I am glad that someone who gets some readership has painted Kinsella for what he is on this issue, and that is dead wrong. Kinsella, one would think, would still have some feelings for the federal Liberals, you might think that he would prefer them to the Conservatives, you might think that he would keep his mouth shut if he does not like Dion’s proposal, rather than actively work to hinder the selling of a plan which is in my view necessary to adequately fight climate change.

I used to find Kinsella to be a fun read, usually something funny, often something very insightful, but given his repeated opposition to moves by the federal Liberals, most of all his opposition to the carbon tax, I will no longer read his blog, and I have lost most of the respect and admiration that I once had for him.

Read this today about Arthur Griffiths seeking the BC Liberal nomination in the new riding of Vancouver-West End. I can understand Griffiths thinking that a high profile riding in downtown Vancouver would be a great place to run, if he could win the riding that is. In 2005 Loren Mayencourt won by a mere 11 votes in the old riding of Vancouver-Burrard. The new West End riding is a little bit smaller and loses out on some of the voters from the eastside, which might help the Liberals. I think that the new West End riding will still be a tough fight for the Liberals, and without a gay or lesbian candidate they could lose a lot of the gay support that Mayencourt still manager to hold onto. I am not saying that Mayencourt was generally supported by the LGBT community, just that I think he was far more likely to get at least some gay support, whereas Griffiths will probably not be able to hold much of that support.

I hope that the NDP chooses a good candidate for Vancouver-West End. The riding is definitely winnable, and I am sure that the NDP will look for a strong candidate, but I really hope that the candidate is a a gay, lesbian, or transgendered person. There are not enough queer voices in Victoria, and I think that a representative from the historical gay neighbourhood in Vancouver and in BC as a whole would be a great advocate for LGBT rights and issues. Mayencourt, although a gay man, failed in my view to do much to advance LGBT rights or issues in Victoria, at least in part because his party does not really care about the issues. The NDP could possibly win the election in BC, if that happens a queer voice for Vancouver-West End would be hugely influential. Even an NDP opposition would benefit from a queer voice, speaking for a diverse and very queer community.